1 Wipe the fish fil­lets and place them on a clean board. Make sure all the pin bones have been re­moved by run­ning your finger down the cen­tre of the salmon. If you feel any lit­tle bones, ease out with tweez­ers.

2 Mix to­gether the pep­per­corns, sea salt, sugar, dill, trea­cle and cumin in a bowl to make the cur­ing mix­ture. At this stage it will look like a bowl of black gravel.

3 Sprin­kle a layer of the ex­tra salt on a large piece of foil and place one salmon fil­let on top, skin side down. Cover the flesh with the cur­ing mix­ture. Place the other piece of salmon skin side up on top and scat­ter over some more sea salt flakes.

4 Wrap the salmon up and seal the edges of the foil to make a tight par­cel. Place on a bak­ing tray and put a plate and a weight on the top to ap­ply pres­sure to the par­cel.

5 Place the salmon in the fridge and leave it to cure for at least 2 days. Turn the par­cel twice a day so the juices from the top half and the bot­tom half drain evenly. Juice will escape through the par­cel so when you turn the salmon, dis­card any ex­cess juice – this is part of the cur­ing process as the salt draws the mois­ture out of the fish.

6 Un­wrap the par­cel and dis­card the bits of dill and pep­per­corn. The gravlax is now ready to eat. Cut the slices on the bias so you get slices that show off the black edges made by the trea­cle. Wrap the re­main­ing salmon in cling film and re­frig­er­ate. Eat within a week.

1 Melt 50g of the but­ter in a medium pan and gently fry the shal­lot with the thyme and bay leaf un­til well soft­ened but not coloured, stir­ring reg­u­larly. Add the gar­lic, nut­meg and all­spice and cook for 1 minute more, stir­ring.

2 Drop the chicken liv­ers into the pan and cook over a high heat for 2–3 min­utes or un­til lightly browned and hot. Cut one of the largest liv­ers in half to check – it should look pale pink inside. Pour the brandy and Madeira into the pan and boil hard for 1–2 min­utes or un­til al­most all the liq­uid evap­o­rates.

3 Re­move the pan from the heat and dis­card the thyme and bay leaf. Tip the chicken liver mix­ture into a food pro­ces­sor and sea­son with plenty of salt and pep­per. Melt the re­main­ing 150g but­ter in a small pan over a low heat. Blend the chicken liver and shal­lot mix­ture for a minute, then re­move the lid and push the mix­ture down with a spat­ula. With the mo­tor run­ning, slowly pour the melted but­ter onto the liver, then add the dou­ble cream and blend for a few sec­onds more.

4 Trans­fer the mix­ture to a sieve set over a bowl and press through firmly, us­ing a la­dle to push the mix­ture through the tiny holes. Grease six 100ml ramekins or small dishes with sun­flower oil and di­vide the mix­ture be­tween them.

5 To make the cran­berry but­ter, melt the but­ter in a small pan over a very low heat. Re­move from the hob and pour into a measuring jug. Spoon off any foam that rises to the sur­face and leave to stand for a few min­utes to al­low the milk solids to sink to the bot­tom of the jug. When the but­ter is looking clear, tip back into the pan and stir in the cran­berry sauce. Warm to­gether gently for a few min­utes, stir­ring oc­ca­sion­ally un­til the sauce melts. Leave to cool for 10 min­utes.

6 Spoon a lit­tle sauce on to each ramekin and leave to cool. Cover with cling film and chill for 2 or 3 hours or overnight un­til set. Eat within 3 days.

COLD TURKEY AND HAM PIE WITH A CRAN­BERRY TOP­PING

SERVES 4- 6 PAS­TRY • 450g plain flour • 2 tsp bak­ing pow­der • 1 tsp salt • 60g cold but­ter, cut into cubes • 60g cold lard, cut into cubes • cran­berry top­ping • 500g fresh cran­ber­ries • 250g kumquats, sliced thinly • 250g caster sugar • 6 all­spice berries • 1 cin­na­mon stick • 3 tbsp port • 2 gela­tine leaves FILL­ING • 1 tbsp olive oil • 1 tbsp but­ter • 1 onion, chopped • 1 leek, chopped • 2 small sticks of cel­ery, chopped • 1 dsrtsp flour • 100ml chicken stock • 350g cooked gam­mon, cut into chunks • 500g cooked turkey, dark and light meat, in large pieces • 3 tbsp dou­ble cream • ½ tsp English mus­tard pow­der • good hand­ful of curly pars­ley, chopped • black pep­per and sea salt to taste 1 First make the pas­try. Put the flour in a food pro­ces­sor with the bak­ing pow­der and salt. Add the but­ter and lard and blitz to crumbs. Add about 140ml of wa­ter a lit­tle at a time and process un­til a ball of pas­try forms. Wrap the pas­try in cling film and chill in the fridge. 2 Next make the cran­berry top­ping. Bring 150ml of wa­ter to the boil. Add the cran­ber­ries and kumquats and sim­mer for 10 min­utes un­til they have bro­ken down. Add the sugar, all­spice and the cin­na­mon stick. Stir un­til the sugar has dis­solved and sim­mer for a fur­ther 10 min­utes. Add the port and bring back to the boil for a cou­ple of min­utes, then re­move from the heat. 3 Place the gela­tine in a bowl of cold wa­ter for about 3 min­utes to swell and soften. Drain and stir the soft­ened gela­tine into the sauce. Leave to cool then place in the fridge to set. 4 Next bake the pas­try case blind. Pre­heat the oven to 170°C/gas 3. Line a 23cm spring form cake tin with sil­i­cone bak­ing pa­per. Roll the pas­try out and line the tin, leav­ing the pas­try hang­ing over the edge for trim­ming later. Cover the pas­try with a piece of bak­ing parch­ment, and fill with bak­ing beans. Bake in the pre­heated oven for 15–20 min­utes un­til cooked, then re­move the beans and pa­per and trim the pas­try neatly. Set the pas­try case aside to cool. 5 Now make the fill­ing. Put the olive oil and but­ter in a large fry­ing pan, add the onion, leek and cel­ery and sweat for about 5 min­utes. Stir in the flour, add the stock and cook un­til thick­ened. Add the cream, mus­tard pow­der and pars­ley, then fold in the ham and turkey. Sea­son to taste – use lots of pep­per but go care­fully with the salt, as your gam­mon may be salty. Pack the fill­ing into the pas­try case and re­turn to the oven for 15 min­utes at 170ºc/ Gas 3 for the flavours to bake to­gether. Re­move and leave to cool for a while, then spread on the cran­berry top­ping. The heat from the pie will melt the jelly slightly, which helps it set­tle into the pie. Leave the pie to cool com­pletely and serve cold.

12 Days of Christ­mas by The Hairy Bik­ers, £22. Pub­lished by Orion Pub­lish­ing.